Moving picture processing device, information processing device, and program thereof

ABSTRACT

To present a moving picture processing device having a user interface very easy to use when selecting part of moving pictures from multiple moving pictures. The moving picture processing device comprises a moving picture display unit for displaying whole or part of plural stored moving pictures sequentially, an input accepting unit for accepting an input for display of moving picture, a moving picture menu compiling unit for compiling a menu of moving pictures displayed when the input accepting unit accepts the input, and a menu display unit for displaying a menu of moving pictures compiled by the moving picture menu compiling unit.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a moving picture display device or thelike having features in interaction on displayed moving picture ordisplay method of moving picture or the like.

BACKGROUND ART

A first prior art is a technology of customizing menu items of user'sapplication.

A second prior art is a device of displaying a favorable andeasy-to-read electronic program guide by displaying a still picturecomposed of reduced screens on the electronic program guide. Such deviceis disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 09-037180.

A third prior art is a technology of displaying plural moving pictureson one screen.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

An information processing device for displaying an electronic programguide, comprises:

a program information storage unit storing one or more pieces of programinformation as information about programs for composing an electronicprogram guide;

a moving picture storage unit storing one or more moving pictures foridentifying the program information; and

a program guide display unit for displaying an electronic program guideincluding moving pictures, by using one or more pieces of programinformation in the program information storage unit, and one or moremoving pictures in the moving picture storage unit,

in which the program guide display unit displays a moving picture foridentifying a program by changing the size of the program depending onthe output duration of the program.

An information processing device for displaying a moving picture foridentifying a program in an electronic program guide,

in which a moving picture for identifying a program is displayed bychanging the size of the moving picture depending on the output durationof the program.

An information processing device for displaying an electronic programguide having one or more pieces of program information having a programidentifier as information for identifying a program and time zoneinformation as information showing an on-air time zone of the program,comprises:

a program information storage unit storing one or more pieces of programinformation; and

a program information display unit for displaying one or more pieces ofprogram information out of the program information stored in the programinformation storage unit,

in which the program information display unit determines the size ofdisplay frame of one or more pieces of program information to bedisplayed, on the basis of one or more pieces of time zone informationpossessed by one or more pieces of program information to be displayed,out of one or more pieces of program information stored in the programinformation storage unit.

An information processing device for displaying an electronic programguide having one or more pieces of program information having a programidentifier as information for identifying a program and time zoneinformation as information showing an on-air time zone of the program,comprisese:

a program information storage unit storing one or more pieces of programinformation;

a program information display unit for displaying one or more pieces ofprogram information out of the program information stored in the programinformation storage unit; and

an input accepting unit for accepting an input of instruction of programinformation to be focused out of one or more programs displayed by theprogram information display unit,

in which the program information display unit determines the size ofdisplay frame of one or more pieces of program information to bedisplayed, on the basis of the time zone information possessed by thefocused program information by the input of the input accepting unit.

An information processing device is

an information processing device for displaying an electronic programguide having one or more pieces of program information having a programidentifier as information for identifying a program and time zoneinformation as information showing an on-air time zone of the program,

in which the size of display frame of program information is changed, onthe basis of one or more pieces of time zone information possessed byone or more pieces of program information being displayed or time zoneinformation possessed by the focused program information.

An information processing device is

an information processing device for displaying an electronic programguide having program identifier, time zone information, and one or morepieces of program information including a moving picture,

in which the moving picture possessed by the program information isdisplayed by changing the display method of moving picture on the basisof the time zone information.

A program causes a computer to execute, comprises:

a step of displaying a frame of program guide;

a step of determining the display position and display area of movingpicture for identifying the program information on the basis of theprogram information; and

a step of displaying the moving picture for identifying the programinformation in the program guide on the basis of the determination.

A program causes a computer to execute, comprises:

an input accepting step of accepting an input of display instruction ofelectronic program guide or moving instruction of displayed electronicprogram list;

a display program information acquiring step of acquiring programinformation to be displayed on the basis of the accepted input;

a display frame size determining step of determining the size of displayframe of one or more pieces of program information to be displayed, onthe basis of one or more pieces of time zone information possessed inone or more pieces of program information acquired at the displayprogram acquiring step; and

a step of displaying by composing an electronic program guide on thebasis of the display frame size determined at the display frame sizedetermining step.

A program causes a computer to execute, comprises:

an input accepting step of accepting an input of instruction of programinformation to be focused out of one or more displayed programs;

a step of acquiring time zone information possessed by the programinformation focused by the input;

a step of determining the size of display frame of program informationon the basis of the time zone information; and

a step of displaying by composing an electronic program guide on thebasis of the determined display frame size.

A program causes a computer to execute, comprises:

a display program information acquiring step of acquiring one or morepieces of program information to be displayed;

a time zone information acquiring step of acquiring each time zoneinformation possessed in one or more pieces of program informationacquired at the display program information acquiring step;

a display method determining step of determining the display method onthe basis of each time zone information acquired at the time zoneinformation acquiring step;

a moving picture acquiring step of acquiring one or more moving picturescorresponding to one or more pieces of program information; and

a program guide display step of displaying one or more moving picturesacquired at the moving picture acquiring step, on the basis of thedisplay method determined at the display method determining step, anddisplaying an electronic program guide including the moving pictures.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of configuration of moving picture processingdevice in preferred embodiment 1.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of operation of moving picture processing devicein preferred embodiment 1.

FIG. 3 is a concept diagram of moving picture processing system inpreferred embodiment 1.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing screen transition in preferred embodiment 1.

FIG. 5 is a diagram of structure of moving picture identificationinformation in preferred embodiment 1.

FIG. 6 is a diagram of structure of moving picture identificationinformation in preferred embodiment 1.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of display mode of moving picturemenu in preferred embodiment 1.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a display example of selected moving picturein preferred embodiment 1.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram of configuration of moving picture processingdevice in preferred embodiment 2.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart of operation of moving picture processing devicein preferred embodiment 2.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing moving picture control table in preferredembodiment 2.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing characteristic menu item control table inpreferred embodiment 2.

FIG. 13 is a diagram of display example of characteristic menu inpreferred embodiment 2.

FIG. 14 is a diagram of display example of moving picture list inpreferred embodiment 2.

FIG. 15 is a diagram of display example of new moving picture menu inpreferred embodiment 2.

FIG. 16 is a block diagram of configuration of information processingdevice in preferred embodiment 3.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart of operation of information processing device inpreferred embodiment 3.

FIG. 18 is a diagram of program information control table in preferredembodiment 3.

FIG. 19 is a diagram of moving picture control table in preferredembodiment 3.

FIG. 20 is a diagram of display example of frame of program guide inpreferred embodiment 3.

FIG. 21 is a diagram of output example of electronic program guide inpreferred embodiment 3.

FIG. 22 is a diagram of output example of electronic program guide inpreferred embodiment 3.

FIG. 23 is a diagram of output example of electronic program guide inpreferred embodiment 3.

FIG. 24 is a block diagram of configuration of moving picture displaydevice in preferred embodiment 4.

FIG. 25 is a flowchart of operation of moving picture display device inpreferred embodiment 4.

FIG. 26 is a diagram of moving picture control table in preferredembodiment 4.

FIG. 27 is a diagram of example of map information in preferredembodiment 4.

FIG. 28 is a diagram of world clock information control table inpreferred embodiment 4.

FIG. 29 is a diagram of display example of moving picture in preferredembodiment 4.

FIG. 30 is a diagram of display example of moving picture in preferredembodiment 4.

FIG. 31 is a block diagram of configuration of moving picture processingdevice in preferred embodiment 5.

FIG. 32 is a flowchart of operation of moving picture processing devicein preferred embodiment 5.

FIG. 33 is a flowchart of operation of change process of scheduleinformation in preferred embodiment 5.

FIG. 34 is a diagram of moving picture control table in preferredembodiment 5.

FIG. 35 is a diagram of schedule information control table in preferredembodiment 5.

FIG. 36 is a diagram of approximation table in preferred embodiment 5.

FIG. 37 is a diagram of schedule information control table in preferredembodiment 5.

FIG. 38 is a block diagram of configuration of information processingdevice in preferred embodiment 6.

FIG. 39 is a flowchart of operation of information processing device inpreferred embodiment 6.

FIG. 40 is a diagram of extracted program information in preferredembodiment 6.

FIG. 41 is a diagram of output example of electronic program guide inpreferred embodiment 6.

FIG. 42 is a diagram of output example of electronic program guide inpreferred embodiment 6.

FIG. 43 is a block diagram of configuration of information processingdevice in preferred embodiment 7.

FIG. 44 is a flowchart of operation of information processing device inpreferred embodiment 7.

FIG. 45 is a diagram of output example of electronic program guide inpreferred embodiment 7.

FIG. 46 is a diagram of output example of electronic program guide inpreferred embodiment 7.

FIG. 47 is a block diagram of configuration of information processingdevice in preferred embodiment 8.

FIG. 48 is a flowchart of operation of information processing device inpreferred embodiment 8.

FIG. 49 is a diagram of display method control table in preferredembodiment 8.

FIG. 50 is a diagram of output example of electronic program guide inpreferred embodiment 8.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

In the first prior art, only the operation menu can be customized by theuser, and the user interface is not easy to use, for example, forselecting a specific number of moving pictures from multiple movingpictures. In principle, in the first prior art, function selection orapplication selection is assumed, but it is not a technology assumingmoving picture selection. The second prior art is intended to displaystill pictures, not moving pictures. It is not intended to cut the imageby the size corresponding to the time frame of program. The second priorart is not designed to display moving pictures in a program guide, giveimages of output contents adequately to the user, and transmit the timeand duration of contents output immediately. The third prior art isintended to display plural moving pictures on one screen, not visuallyexpressing the position information of moving pictures. For example,when a moving picture is seen as sightseeing information, theinformation of the location shown by the moving picture must beseparately obtained by the user.

To solve these problems, the invention presents a moving pictureprocessing device comprising a moving picture storage unit storing aplurality of moving pictures, a moving picture display unit fordisplaying whole or part of the plurality of moving picturessequentially, an input accepting unit for accepting an input aboutdisplay of moving picture, a moving picture menu compiling unit forcompiling a menu of moving pictures displayed at the time of acceptanceof input by the input accepting unit, and a menu display unit fordisplaying the menu of moving pictures compiled by the moving picturemenu compiling unit. Such moving picture processing device presents auser interface that is very easy to use when selecting some of themoving pictures from multiple moving pictures. Further, from one or moreselected moving pictures, a moving picture selection menu can becomposed according to the preference of the user. The invention alsopresents a moving picture processing device comprising a moving picturestoring unit storing one or more moving pictures, a moving picture menucompiling unit for compiling a menu having images for identifying one ormore moving pictures by one or more moving pictures, a menu display unitfor displaying the menu compiled by the moving picture menu compilingunit, a characteristic menu display unit for displaying a characteristicmenu having one or more items expressing the characteristics of movingpictures, an input accepting unit for accepting a selection instructionof image displayed by the menu display unit, and a selection instructionof item possessed by the characteristic menu, a moving picture selectingunit for selecting a moving picture having the characteristic indicatedby the corresponding item from the moving picture storing unit, for amoving picture identified by the image when the input accepting unitaccepts the selection instruction of image and accepts the selectioninstruction of item possessed by the characteristic menu, and a menuchanging unit for changing the image of menu display unit by replacingthe moving picture corresponding to the selected and instructed imageaccepted in the input accepting unit with the moving picture selected bythe moving picture selecting unit. By this moving picture processingdevice, the moving picture menu can be updated by a simple operation,and the moving pictures can be exchanged by an excellent user interfaceby the characteristics of moving pictures.

The invention further presents an information processing device fordisplaying an electronic program guide, comprising a program informationstorage unit storing one or more pieces of program information asinformation about programs for composing the electronic program guide, amoving picture storing unit storing one or more moving pictures foridentifying the program information, and a program guide display unitfor displaying the electronic program guide including moving pictures,by using one or more pieces of program information in the programinformation storage unit, and one or more moving pictures in the movingpicture storage unit, in which the program guide display unit displaysthe moving picture for identifying the program by changing the size ofthe moving picture depending on the output time of the program. By thisinformation processing device, by viewing the program guide, the userinstantly knows the time zone and duration of contents.

The invention also presents a moving picture display device comprising amoving picture storage unit storing one or more moving pictures havingposition information as information showing the position as attributevalues, and a moving picture display unit for displaying one or moremoving pictures, in which the moving picture display unit displays themoving picture in a mode of visually expressing the position informationcorresponding to the moving picture. Such moving picture display deviceis preferably applied as information display device of sightseeingguide, in particular.

The moving picture display unit in the moving picture processing deviceof the invention further includes schedule information holding means forholding schedule information as information about schedule of displayingplural moving pictures, moving picture display means for displayingwhole or part of the plural moving pictures sequentially on the basis ofthe schedule information, and a schedule information changing unit forchanging the schedule information on the basis of acceptance of theinput when the input accepting unit accepts the input for display ofmoving pictures, in which the moving picture display means displayswhole or part of the plural moving pictures sequentially on the basis ofthe schedule information changed by the schedule information changingunit. In this moving picture processing device, a moving picturepreferred by the user can be found out earlier. Moreover, a menu can becompiled quickly when composing a moving picture menu.

The invention further presents an information processing device fordisplaying an electronic program guide having one or more pieces ofprogram information including program identifier as information foridentifying a program, and time zone information as information showingthe on-air time zone of the program, in which the size of display frameof program information is changed on the basis of one or more pieces oftime zone information possessed in one or more pieces of displayedprogram information, or time zone information possessed in the focusedprogram information. By this information processing device, a veryeasy-to-read electronic program guide is obtained.

The invention further presents an information processing device fordisplaying an electronic program guide having one or more pieces ofprogram information including a program identifier, time zoneinformation, and moving pictures, in which the display method of movingpictures is changed on the basis of the time zone information, and themoving picture possessed in the program information is displayed. Bythis information processing device, the moving picture can be displayedin a proper size suited to the display frame of the program, so that anelectronic program guide very easy to read and very easy to understandthe contents of programs can be obtained. According to the invention,the moving pictures can be displayed and utilized effectively. By theinformation processing device for displaying the electronic programguide of the invention, an appropriate electronic program guide can bepresented.

Preferred embodiments of the invention are specifically described belowwhile referring to the accompanying drawings. Throughout the preferredembodiments, constituent elements and flowchart steps identified withsame reference numerals have the same functions, and repeatedexplanation may be omitted if once explained.

Preferred Embodiment 1

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of configuration of moving picture processingdevice in preferred embodiment 1. The moving picture processing devicecomprises a moving picture storage unit 101, a moving picture displayunit 102, an input accepting unit 103, a moving picture menu compilingunit 104, a menu display unit 105, and a motion reproducing unit 106.

The moving picture storage unit 101 stores a plurality of movingpictures. Data structure of moving picture is not specified. The movingpicture storage unit 101 is preferably a nonvolatile recording medium,but it may be also realized by volatile recording medium.

The moving picture display unit 102 displays whole or part of pluralmoving pictures sequentially. The moving picture display unit 102 isrealized usually by MPU or other memory. The processing procedure of themoving picture display unit 102 for displaying moving pictures isrealized by software and/or hardware (exclusive circuit). The movingpicture display unit 102 may either include a display or control outputto an external display.

The input accepting unit 103 accepts a motion beginning instruction(starting instruction), a motion end instruction, an input of selectionof moving picture displayed in the moving picture display unit 102(moving picture selection input), and a selection of menu item (menuselection input) out of moving picture menu compiled by the movingpicture menu compiling unit 104. Input means of moving picture selectioninput is not specified, including keyboard, mouse, remote control, ormenu screen. The input accepting unit 103 is realized by device driverof input means such as remote controller, or control software of menuscreen or the like.

The moving picture menu compiling unit 104 compiles a menu of movingpictures on the basis of the displayed moving picture when the inputaccepting unit 103 accepts moving picture selection input. The menucompiling method of the moving picture menu compiling unit 104 is notspecified. The moving picture menu compiling unit 104, for example, cutsoff a window, and displays plural moving pictures in this window. Theplural moving pictures are the plural moving pictures being displayedwhen the input accepting unit 103 accepts the moving picture selectioninput. The moving picture menu compiling unit 104 is usually realized byMPU or other memory. The processing procedure of the moving picture menucompiling unit 104 for compiling the memory is usually realized bysoftware, and the software is recorded in ROM or other recording medium.It may be also realized by hardware (exclusive circuit).

The menu display unit 105 displays the menu of moving pictures compiledby the moving picture menu compiling unit 104. The menu display unit 105is usually realized by MPU or other memory. The processing procedure ofthe menu display unit 105 for displaying the menu of moving pictures isrealized by software and/or hardware (exclusive circuit). The menudisplay unit 105 may either include a display or control output to anexternal display.

The motion reproducing unit 106, when the input accepting unit 103accepts menu selection input, reads out the selected motion from themoving picture storage unit 101, and reproduces. In this case, themotion reproducing unit 106 usually displays the moving picture on thewhole screen surface. The motion reproducing unit 106 is usuallyrealized by MPU or other memory. The processing procedure of the motionreproducing unit 106 for displaying the moving picture is realized bysoftware and/or hardware (exclusive circuit). The motion reproducingunit 106 may either include a display or control output to an externaldisplay.

The operation of the moving picture processing device is explained belowby referring to the flowchart in FIG. 2.

(Step S201) The input accepting unit 103 judges if an input is acceptedor not. The process goes to step S202 when accepting an input, andreturns to step S201 when not accepting.

(Step S202) It is judged if the input accepted at step S201 is an inputof starting instruction or not. The process goes to step S203 in thecase of input of starting instruction, or jumps to step S213 otherwise.

(Step S203) The moving picture display unit 102 judges if the movingpicture processing device is presently starting or not. The processreturns to step S201 if starting, or goes to step S204 if not starting.

(Step S204) The moving picture display unit 102 displays whole or partof the moving pictures in the moving picture storage unit 101sequentially. Such motion of display of moving picture is executedparallel to motion at other step. For example, during display of movingpicture, input from the user can be accepted.

(Step S205) It is judged if the input accepted at step S201 is a movingpicture selection input or not. The process goes to step S206 in thecase of moving picture selection input, or goes to step S213 otherwise.

(Step S206) The moving picture menu compiling unit 104 judges if themoving picture is presently displayed or not (whether the moving pictureis being displayed or not at step S204). The process goes to step S207if the moving picture is being displayed, or returns to step S201 if notdisplayed.

(Step S207) The moving picture menu compiling unit 104 judges if aspecific number of moving pictures have been already registered or not.The process returns to step S201 if a specific number of moving pictureshave been already registered, and goes to step S208 otherwise. Herein,the moving pictures are moving pictures for composing the menu of movingpictures.

(Step S208) The moving picture menu compiling unit 104 registers thedisplayed moving pictures when the input accepting unit 103 accepts themoving picture selection input. To register a moving picture is, forexample, to record the information for identifying the moving picture ina predetermined memory. To register a moving picture means also that onemoving picture can be distinguished from other moving picture by othermethod.

(Step S209) The moving picture menu compiling unit 104 judges if aspecific number of moving pictures have been already registered or not.The process goes to step S210 if a specific number of moving pictureshave been already registered, and jump to step S212 otherwise.

(Step S210) The moving picture menu compiling unit 104 compiles a menufor selecting moving pictures (moving picture menu) on the basis of theregistered moving pictures.

(Step S211) The menu display unit 105 displays the menu of movingpictures compiled at step S210. Then the process returns to step S201.

(Step S212) The moving picture menu compiling unit 104 instructs themoving picture display unit 102 so that the moving picture display inthe moving picture display unit 102 may step to next moving picture.Then the process returns to step S201. The moving picture menu compilingunit 104 may also wait until completion of reproduction of the presentmotion.

(Step S213) It is judged if the input accepted at step S201 is selectionof one moving picture in the moving picture menu or not. The processgoes to step S214 in the case of selection of one moving picture, andgoes to step S216 otherwise.

(Step S214) The motion reproducing unit 106 judges if the moving picturemenu is being displayed or not. The process goes to step S215 if themoving picture menu is displayed, and returns to step S201 otherwise.

(Step S215) The motion reproducing unit 106 reads out the moving pictureselected at step S213 from the moving picture storage unit 101, andreproduces it. In such a case, the motion reproducing unit 106 displaysthe moving picture on the entire screen of the display.

(Step S216) It is judged if the input accepted at step S201 is an endinstruction or not. The process is terminated in the case of endinstruction, or returns to step S201 otherwise.

Specific operation of the moving picture processing system including themoving picture processing device in the preferred embodiment isexplained below. A concept diagram of the moving picture processingsystem is shown in FIG. 3. The moving picture treating system comprisesa moving picture processing device 31 and a remote controller 32. Themoving picture processing device 31 has a recording medium of largecapacity (for example, hard disk), and multiple moving pictures arestored in this recording medium. This recording medium is the movingpicture storage unit 101 mentioned above. An example of informationstored in the moving picture storage unit 101 is shown in FIG. 3. Itincludes plural sets of “ID,” “moving picture identificationinformation,” and “moving picture (entity data).” “ID” is informationidentifying a record in table structure. “Moving picture identificationinformation” is information identifying moving picture (entity data).Data structure of moving picture (entity data) is not particularlyspecified. Moving picture (entity data) may be composed of video dataalone or may contain audio data.

The user operates the moving picture processing device by using theremote controller as input means, selects preferred moving pictures frommultiple moving pictures, and compiles a menu of own moving pictures.

The user starts the moving picture processing device by using the remotecontroller. To start up, the power button of the remote controller ispressed.

When started, the moving picture processing device reads out movingpictures from the recording medium in predetermined sequence or atrandom, and displays in the display unit. Specifically, the movingpicture processing device reads out the moving pictures sequentiallyfrom the recording medium, and displays, for example, one moving picturefor 4 seconds, and changes to a next moving picture. Such transition ofmoving pictures is shown in FIG. 4.

In FIG. 4, the moving picture processing device reads out a first movingpicture (moving picture of scenery such as mountain), and reproduces for4 seconds. For example, the moving picture processing device reproducesthe first 4 seconds of the image of one selected moving picture. In thiscase, the moving picture processing device also displays the timeinformation showing the input accepting time of the displayed movingpicture. That is, the sequentially displayed moving pictures areintended to urge the user to select for compiling a menu of movingpictures. Time information display begins at 3 (meaning 3 seconds tolast), and changes to 2 and 1, and nothing is shown at last. Or timeinformation of 0 may be displayed. The series of operation is shown inscreen (1) to screen (4) in FIG. 4. During display of first movingpicture, the moving picture processing device is waiting for selectionand input of first moving picture.

Next, the moving picture processing device selects a second movingpicture (moving picture of scenery of sea, etc.). Similarly, the movingpicture processing device reproduces the second moving picture for 4seconds. In this case, as shown in screen (5) to screen (8) in FIG. 4,the time information is also displayed, for example, in the upper rightcorner of the screen. During display of second moving picture, themoving picture processing device is waiting for selection and input ofsecond moving picture.

Suppose Select button of the remote controller is pressed during displayof second moving picture. In this case, the user has selected the secondmoving picture as a moving picture for compiling the menu. The movingpicture processing device stores the moving picture identificationinformation for identifying the second moving picture temporarily inmemory. FIG. 5 shows the moving picture identification informationstored in memory. The memory in FIG. 5 is capable of storing up to fivepieces of moving picture identification information for identifying themoving pictures for compiling the moving picture memory, and it has fiverecords containing “ID” and “moving picture identification information.”FIG. 5 shows “second moving picture” is stored as the moving pictureidentification information of “ID=1.”

Next, the moving picture processing device jumps to a first field of athird moving picture. After selection of second moving picture,meanwhile, the display of second moving picture may continue until thetime expires.

Similarly, the moving picture processing device displays third movingpicture (see screen (9) to screen (12) in FIG. 4). Waiting for pressingof Select button of the remote controller, the moving picture processingdevice continues to display moving pictures successively. In thisprocess, suppose Select button of the remote controller is pressedduring display of fifth moving picture, eighth moving picture, tenthmoving picture, and eleventh moving picture.

Responding to pressing of Select button of the remote controller, themoving picture processing device stores the moving pictureidentification information in the specified memory. FIG. 6 shows fivepieces of moving picture identification information stored in thememory. When five pieces of moving picture identification informationare stored in the memory, the moving picture processing deviceautomatically compiles a menu of moving pictures by using the movingpictures identified by these five pieces of moving pictureidentification information. This menu of moving pictures is a menu usedby the user for reproducing desired moving pictures by simple operation.The moving picture processing device the moving pictures identified bythe five pieces of moving picture identification information. Mode ofdisplaying five moving pictures is not particularly specified. Fivemoving pictures are displayed, for example, as shown in FIG. 7. That is,one moving picture is shown in one window. That is, five windows arecreated, and a corresponding moving picture is reproduced in eachwindow.

In this state, the user selects one screen by using the remotecontroller. For example, when the eighth moving picture is focused inFIG. 7, the user has pressed Decide button of the remote controller.

Receiving a signal of pressing of Decide button of the remotecontroller, the moving picture processing device selects the focusedeighth moving picture from the moving picture storage unit 101, anddisplays in the entire screen of the display unit. That is, the movingpicture processing device erases the windows in FIG. 7, and reproducesthe moving picture identified by the eighth moving picture in a window(see FIG. 8).

According to this preferred embodiment, one moving picture can beselected from plural moving pictures by simple user interface. From oneor more selected moving pictures, a menu of selected moving picturespreferred by the user can be compiled automatically. The moving pictureprocessing device is very effective in particular when multiple movingpictures are stored in a recording medium of large capacity.

According to the preferred embodiment, after a specific number of movingpictures are selected from multiple stored moving pictures, a menu ofmoving pictures is automatically displayed. Instead, the user may beallowed to select moving pictures as many as desired, and a menu ofmoving pictures may be displayed according to the instruction from theuser.

In the preferred embodiment, the moving picture display unit displaysthe time information showing the remaining time for accepting the inputon the displayed moving picture, but display of time information is notessential.

In the preferred embodiment, after start, each moving picture isdisplayed for 4 seconds, and next moving picture is displayed, but thedisplay time of selected moving picture is not specified. The displaytime may be different depending of moving pictures.

In the preferred embodiment, after start, when displaying each movingpicture, part of long moving picture is cut out for 4 seconds, forexample, and displayed, but a moving picture or still picture whenselecting a long moving picture may be separately held and used.

In the embodiment, in the menu of moving pictures, the moving picturesare displayed in corresponding windows, but only the still picture ortext representing the moving picture (moving picture identificationinformation or the like) may be displayed. These variations are alsosame in the following preferred embodiments.

Further, processing in the preferred embodiment may be realized bysoftware. The software may be distributed by downloading. Or thesoftware may be recorded and distributed in recording medium such asCD-ROM. The same is applied in other preferred embodiments in thespecification. The software for realizing the moving picture processingdevice in the preferred embodiment is a program described below. Thatis, this program is a program for causing a computer to execute a movingpicture display step of displaying whole or part of plural stored movingpictures sequentially, an input accepting step of accepting an input ondisplayed moving picture, a moving picture menu compiling step ofcompiling a menu by using the moving pictures displayed when acceptingan input at the input accepting step, and a menu display step ofdisplaying a menu of moving pictures compiled at the moving picture menucompiling step.

Preferred Embodiment 2

This preferred embodiment is about moving picture processing device andothers capable of exchanging menu items for composing a menu of movingpictures by a simple operation.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram of configuration of moving picture processingdevice in preferred embodiment 2. The moving picture processing devicecomprises a moving picture storage unit 101, a moving picture displayunit 102, an input accepting unit 901, a moving picture menu compilingunit 104, a menu display unit 105, a motion reproducing unit 106, acharacteristic menu display unit 902, a moving picture selecting unit903, and a menu changing unit 904.

The input accepting unit 901 accepts a motion beginning instruction(starting instruction), a motion end instruction, an input of selectionof moving picture displayed in the moving picture display unit 102(moving picture selection input), a selection of menu item (menuselection input) out of moving picture menu compiled by the movingpicture menu compiling unit 104, a selection instruction of imagesdisplayed in the menu display unit 105 (exchange instruction), and aselection instruction of items in characteristic menu (characteristicselection instruction). Means for realizing the input accepting unit 901is same as in the input accepting unit 103.

The characteristic menu display unit 902 displays a characteristic menuhaving one or more items showing the characteristic of the movingpicture. Information of menu items for composing the characteristic menuis preliminarily stored, for example, in the characteristic menu displayunit 902. Or information of menu items for composing the characteristicmenu may be obtained from attribute information of moving picture. Insuch a case, the moving picture holds the characteristic value (seriousrating 5, hard-boiled rating 3, etc.) for expressing the category ofmoving picture (serious, soft, hard-boiled, etc.). The characteristicmenu display unit 902 is usually realized by MPU or other memory. Theprocessing procedure of the characteristic menu display unit 902 fordisplaying the menu is realized by software and/or hardware (exclusivecircuit). The characteristic menu display unit 902 may either include adisplay or control output to an external display. The characteristicmenu display unit 902 stores the menu items for composing thecharacteristic menu in a nonvolatile recording medium or volatilerecording medium.

The moving picture selecting unit 903 selects, when the input acceptingunit 901 accepts a selection instruction of an image (exchangeinstruction) and also accepts a selection instruction of an item in thecharacteristic menu (characteristic selection instruction), the movingpicture identified by the image, that is, the moving picture having thecharacteristic expressed by this item, from the moving picture storageunit 101. The moving picture selecting unit 903 is usually realized byMPU or other memory. The processing procedure of the moving pictureselecting unit 903 for selecting a moving picture is usually realized bysoftware, and the software is recorded in ROM or other recording medium.It may be also realized by hardware (exclusive circuit).

The menu changing unit 904 replaces the moving picture corresponding tothe image of selection instruction (exchange instruction) accepted inthe input accepting unit 901, with the moving picture selected by themoving picture selecting unit 903, and changes the image in the menudisplay unit 105. The menu changing unit 904 instructs exchange of animage to, for example, the menu display unit 105. In the menu displayunit 105, a menu of moving pictures partly exchanged in image isdisplayed. The menu changing unit 904 is usually realized by MPU orother memory. The processing procedure of the menu changing unit 904 isusually realized by software, and the software is recorded in ROM orother recording medium. It may be also realized by hardware (exclusivecircuit).

The operation of the moving picture processing device is explained belowby referring to the flowchart in FIG. 10. The operation up to the stepof displaying a menu of moving pictures is same as explained inpreferred embodiment 1, and the explanation is omitted. In the flowchartin FIG. 10, in the situation of display of moving picture menu, theprocess of exchanging an item of moving picture menu is explained.

(Step S1001) The input accepting unit 901 judges if an input is acceptedor not. The process goes to step S1002 when accepting an input, andreturns to step S1001 when not accepting.

(Step S1002) The characteristic menu display unit 902 judges if theinput accepted at step S1001 is an exchange instruction or not. Theprocess goes to step S1003 in the case of exchange instruction, or jumpsto step S1005 otherwise. The exchange instruction includes informationshowing the moving pictures to be exchanged.

(Step S1003) The characteristic menu display unit 902 reads out acharacteristic menu including one or more items expressing thecharacteristic of moving picture.

(Step S1004) The characteristic menu display unit 902 displays thecharacteristic menu read out at step S1003. Then the process returns tostep S1001.

(Step S1005) It is judged if the input accepted at step S1001 is acharacteristic selection instruction or not. The process goes to stepS1006 in the case of characteristic selection instruction, or jumps tostep S1009 otherwise. The characteristic selection instruction includesinformation showing menu items for composing the characteristic menu.

(Step S1006) The moving picture selecting unit 903 judges if thecharacteristic menu is being displayed or not. The process goes to stepS1007 when the characteristic menu is displayed, or returns to stepS1001 if not displayed.

(Step S1007) The moving picture selecting unit 903 searches the movingpicture to be exchanged, that is, the moving picture having thecharacteristic indicted by the selected menu item, from the movingpicture storage unit 101. This search is to obtain a candidate of themoving picture to be exchanged.

(Step S1008) The moving picture selecting unit 903 displays one or moremoving pictures obtained at step S1007, as candidates of the movingpictures to be exchanged. In this case, display mode includes list andothers, and is not specified. Then the process goes to step S1001.

(Step S1009) It is judged if it is instructed to select candidates ofmoving pictures to be exchanged from one or more moving picturesdisplayed at step S1008. The process goes to step S1010 if selection ofmoving picture is instructed, and returns to step S1001 if notinstructed.

(Step S1010) The moving picture selecting unit 903 judges if candidatesof the moving pictures to be exchanged are being displayed or not. Theprocess goes to step S1011 if candidates of the moving pictures to beexchanged are displayed, or returns to step S1001 if not displayed.

(Step S1011) The moving picture selecting unit 903 acquires the selectedmoving picture from the moving picture storage unit 101.

(Step S1012) The menu changing unit 904 replaces the moving picture tobe exchanged with the moving picture acquired at step S1011, andinstructs to change the image of the menu display unit 105.

(Step S1013) The menu display unit 105 draws again the menu of movingpictures. When drawing again, either the entire screen or only thechanged region may be shown.

In the flowchart in FIG. 10, when plural moving pictures are acquired byselection of one menu item in the characteristic menu, plural candidatesare displayed to be selected by the user, but the moving pictureprocessing device may automatically select the moving picture of thelargest characteristic value.

A specific operation of the moving picture processing system comprisingthe moving picture processing device of the preferred embodiment isexplained. The concept of the moving picture processing system is sameas shown in FIG. 3. However, the data structure of the moving picturestorage unit has a structure of moving picture management table as shownin FIG. 11. In FIG. 11, the moving picture storage unit stores pluralmoving pictures, and each moving picture has plural characteristicvalues. For example, at ID=1, the moving picture identified by themoving picture identifier “first moving picture” means the seriousrating 8, hard-boiled rating 7, fairy tale rating 1, and home dramarating 1. The moving picture management table in FIG. 11 has a pointer,and the moving pictures (entity data) are linked by the pointer.

FIG. 12 shows a characteristic menu item management table for managingcharacteristic menu items. FIG. 12 is a table for holding theinformation showing the characteristic of moving pictures. In FIG. 12,the characteristic menu display unit displays four characteristics.

In this case, the user, as explained in preferred embodiment 1, operatesthe moving picture processing device by the remote controller, andselects moving pictures to display, for example, a menu of movingpictures as shown in FIG. 7.

Next, the user enters an exchange instruction by the remote controller.The moving picture processing device accepts the exchange instruction,and displays a characteristic menu as shown in FIG. 13. In this case,the moving picture to be replaced is the “eighth moving picture” focusedin FIG. 7.

Suppose the user selects “fairy tale” by moving the focus ofcharacteristic menu in FIG. 13 by the remote controller (input ofcharacteristic selection instruction).

The moving picture processing device selects a moving picture of highfairy tale rating from the eighth moving picture in FIG. 7, from themoving picture management table in FIG. 11. FIG. 14 is a list of movingpictures of the result. The list in FIG. 14 is a list displaying themoving picture identification information and one or more sets of movingpictures.

Further, the user moves the focus up to the sixteenth moving picture,and selects the sixteenth moving picture. In this case, the movingpicture processing device replaces the eighth moving picture in FIG. 7with the sixteenth moving picture, and displays a new menu of movingpictures shown in FIG. 15. Thus, the user can update the moving picturemenu according to the own preference.

According to the preferred embodiment, the moving picture menu can beupdated by a simple user interface, and the moving pictures can beexchanged by an excellent user interface by characteristic of movingpictures.

In the preferred embodiment, items of characteristic menu are notlimited to those shown in FIG. 12 alone. The moving picture processingdevice may acquire the items of characteristic menu from the attributesheld in the moving pictures, and compile the characteristic menudynamically. Display mode of characteristic menu is not specified.

Further, processing in the preferred embodiment may be realized bysoftware. The software may be distributed by downloading. Or thesoftware may be recorded and distributed in recording medium such asCD-ROM. The software for realizing the moving picture processing devicein the preferred embodiment is a program described below. That is, thisprogram is a program for causing a computer to execute a moving picturemenu compiling step of compiling a menu having images for identifyingone or more moving pictures, a menu display step of displaying a menucompiled at the moving picture menu compiling step, a characteristicmenu display step of displaying a characteristic menu having one or moreitems showing characteristic of moving pictures, an input accepting stepof accepting a selection instruction of images displayed at the menudisplay step, and a selection instruction of items contained in thecharacteristic menu, a moving picture selecting step of selecting, whenaccepting a selection instruction of an image, and also accepting aselection instruction of an item in the characteristic menu at the inputaccepting step, the moving picture identified by the image, that is, themoving picture having the characteristic expressed by this item, and amenu changing step of replacing the moving picture corresponding to theimage of selection instruction accepted at the input accepting step,with the moving picture selected at the moving picture selecting step,and changing the image at the menu display step.

Preferred Embodiment 3

This preferred embodiment relates to an electronic program guide fordisplaying moving pictures (herein the moving pictures are movingpictures about the concerned contents) in a width corresponding to theoutput time of programs or contents.

FIG. 16 is a block diagram of configuration of information processingdevice in preferred embodiment 3. The information processing devicecomprises a program information storage unit 1601, a moving picturestorage unit 1602, and a program guide display unit 1603.

The program information storage unit 1601 stores one or more pieces ofprogram information as information about programs for composing anelectronic program guide. The program information includes, for example,a program identifier for identifying a program, information showingoutput time zone of program, and channel number. Data structure ofprogram information is not particularly specified. Acquiring method ofprogram information is not specified. Program information is obtained,for example, by receiving a broadcast. Program information may be alsoobtained through a network, or by reading out from a recording medium.The program information storage unit 1601 is preferably a nonvolatilerecording medium, but may be also realized by a volatile recordingmedium.

The moving picture storage unit 1602 stores one or more moving picturesfor identifying program information. Data structure of moving picture inthe moving picture storage unit 1602 is not specified. The movingpicture storage unit 1602 stores, for example, one or more pairs ofprogram identifier and entity data of moving picture. Entity data ofmoving picture is data in structure of, for example, MPEG4 or MPEG7.Acquiring method of moving picture is not specified. Moving pictures maybe obtained by receiving a broadcast, downloading through a network, orreading out from a recording medium. The moving picture storage unit1602 is preferably a nonvolatile recording medium, but may be alsorealized by a volatile recording medium.

The program guide display unit 1603 displays an electronic program guideincluding moving pictures for identifying programs, by using one or morepieces of program information in the program information storage unit,and one or more moving pictures in the moving picture storage unit. Whendisplaying the moving pictures for identifying the programs, the programguide display unit 1603 changes the size and displays the moving picturedepending on the output time of the program. The program guide displayunit 1603, specifically, displays the moving picture in a double regionsize when displaying program information of contents of 1-hour program,as compared with the case of displaying program information of contentsof 30-minute program. The program guide display unit 1603 is usuallyrealized by MPU or other memory. The processing procedure of the programguide display unit 1603 for displaying a program guide is realized bysoftware, and the software is recorded in ROM or other recording medium.It may be also realized by hardware (exclusive circuit).

The operation of the information processing device is explained below byreferring to the flowchart in FIG. 17.

(Step S1701) The program guide display unit 1603 acquires informationfor composing a frame of program guide stored preliminarily. Datastructure of information for composing a frame of program guide is notspecified.

(Step S1702) The program guide display unit 1603 displays a frame ofprogram guide from the information for composing a frame of programguide acquired at step S1701.

(Step S1703) The program guide display unit 1603 puts “1” in counter i.

(Step S1704) The program guide display unit 1603 acquires i-th programinformation from the program information storage unit 1601.

(Step S1705) The program guide display unit 1603 judges if i-th programinformation is present or not. For example, the program guide displayunit 1603 judges if the program information read at step S1704 is NULLor not. The process goes to step S1707 when i-th program information ispresent, or is terminated if not present.

(Step S1706) The program guide display unit 1603 reads the movingpicture corresponding to the i-th program information from the movingpicture storage unit 1602. For example, the moving picture in the movingpicture storage unit 1602 is managed in pair with program identifier,and the program information has a program identifier. The program guidedisplay unit 1603 reads out the moving picture forming pair with theprogram identifier possessed by the program information.

(Step S1707) The program guide display unit 1603 determines the positionin the program guide for output of a moving picture from the informationof output time zone of program of i-th program information.Specifically, when the program indicated by the program information is aprogram to be issued from 17:00 to 18:00, the position of moving pictureoutput is determined so that the center of the moving picture may belocated at the position of 17:30 in the program guide.

(Step S1708) The program guide display unit 1603, at the time of outputof moving picture, masks a part of the moving picture by determining themasking region, from the information of output time zone of program inthe i-th program information. If the output time of the program is has aregion large enough for output of the entire moving picture, the programguide display unit 1603 does not mask.

(Step S1709) The program guide display unit 1603 issues the movingpicture obtained at step S1706 to the position determined at step S1707.

(Step S1710) The program guide display unit 1603 increments counter iby 1. The process returns to step S1704.

In the flowchart, in the case of output of moving picture, usually, theoutput continues. When receiving an end command of program guide.output, output of frame of program guide and moving picture isterminated.

A specific operation of the information processing device in thepreferred embodiment is explained. Suppose the information processingdevice is holding a program information management table shown in FIG.18. The program information management table has one or more records(program information) showing ID, program identifier, output time, andchannel. The ID is the information for identifying a record, which isrequired in table management. The program identifier is information(program name) for identifying a program. The output time is the on-airtime zone of a program. Herein, the output time is specified by programstart time and end time, but it may be also specified by program starttime and on-air duration. The channel is the channel number ofbroadcasting of a program. The information processing device also holdsa moving picture management table shown in FIG. 19. The moving picturemanagement table has one or more records showing the ID, programidentifier, and moving picture. The moving picture is entity data ofmoving picture, for example, in data structure of MPEG4. The movingpicture may be also broadcast from a promotion channel in an earlierthan actual program, and accumulated in the information processingdevice.

In such a case, the information processing device first composes a frameof program guide, and displays. FIG. 20 shows a display example of frameof program guide. The program guide shows, for example, the channelnumber on the axis of ordinates, and the output time on the axis ofabscissas. Or the program guide may show the channel number on the axisof abscissas, and the output time on the axis of ordinates.

The information processing device acquires the first program informationin FIG. 18. Next, the information processing device reads out the movingpicture forming pair with program identifier “program AA” of firstprogram information from the moving picture management table in FIG. 19.The information processing device determines the mask width (width ofoutput moving picture) at the time of output of moving picture from theoutput time “1 hour” in first program information. As shown in FIG. 21,the moving picture identified by program AA is issued.

Next, the information processing device acquires second programinformation in FIG. 18, and similarly displays the moving pictureforming pair with program identifier “program BB” within the frame ofprogram guide (see FIG. 22). In this case, the width of moving pictureof program BB is ¼ that of program AA. It is because the program outputtime is ¼.

Subsequently, the information processing device acquires third and allprogram information in FIG. 18, and displays the moving pictures in theframe of program guide (see FIG. 23). In this case, depending on theoutput time of the program, the information processing device changesthe size of moving picture and displays when displaying the movingpicture identified by the program. Together with display of movingpicture, the program identifier may be also displayed in the programguide.

According to the preferred embodiment, the moving picture identifyingthe output contents can be issued within the program guide in a size ofregion depending on the output time zone. Therefore, the user knows atglance by viewing the program guide what contents are issued in whichtime zone and how long in duration.

In the preferred embodiment, the program guide is an output schedule ofcontents in a wide sense of meaning, and is not limited to theinformation of on-air schedule of broadcast programs. The program tablemay be also information showing output schedule of contents shown at,for example, museum or event hall. In such a case, channel informationmay not be included in the program guide. The same applies in otherpreferred embodiments.

In the preferred embodiment, the program is not limited to a broadcastprogram, but includes contents read out from recording medium, orcontents downloaded from the network. That is, the program is synonymouswith contents in a wider sense of meaning. The same applies in otherpreferred embodiments.

In the preferred embodiment, the moving picture is issued in a width ofregion depending on the output time by masking the moving picture, butthe moving picture may be cut in a region depending on the output time.When displaying the moving picture for identifying the program,depending on the output time of the program, the moving picture may bedisplayed by changing the size, and the algorithm is not specified insuch a case.

Further, processing in the preferred embodiment may be realized bysoftware. The software may be distributed by downloading. Or thesoftware may be recorded and distributed in recording medium such asCD-ROM. The software for realizing the information processing device inthe preferred embodiment is a program described below. That is, thisprogram is a program for causing a computer to execute a step ofdisplaying a frame of program guide, a step of determining displayposition and display region of moving picture for identifying theprogram information on the basis of program information, and a step ofdisplaying a moving picture for identifying the program information inthe program guide on the basis of the determination. Meanwhile, the stepof displaying a frame of program guide, and the step of displaying themoving picture in the program guide may be may be processed parallel ormay not be specified in sequence.

Preferred Embodiment 4

This preferred embodiment relates to a moving picture display device fordisplaying a moving picture having position information or related toposition information, by disposing on the basis of the positioninformation.

FIG. 24 is a block diagram of moving picture display device. The movingpicture display device comprises a moving picture storage unit 2401, amap information storage unit 2402, a present time acquiring unit 2403, aworld clock holding unit 2404, a map display unit 2405, and a movingpicture display unit 2406.

The moving picture storage unit 2401 stores one or more moving pictureshaving position information showing the position as attribute value.Data structure of moving picture is not specified. Holding manner ofattribute value of moving picture is not specified. The moving picturestorage unit 2401 is preferably a nonvolatile recording medium, but maybe also realized by a volatile recording medium.

The map information storage unit 2402 stores map information. Datastructure of map information is not specified. The map informationstorage unit 2402 is preferably a nonvolatile recording medium, but maybe also realized by a volatile recording medium.

The present time acquiring unit 2403 acquires the present time from aclock not shown. The present time acquiring unit 2403 is usuallyrealized by MPU or other memory. The processing procedure of the presenttime acquiring unit 2403 for acquiring the present time is realized bysoftware, and the software is recorded in ROM or other recording medium.It may be also realized by hardware (exclusive circuit).

The world clock holding unit 2404 is holding the world time. The worldtime holding unit 2404 holds one or more pairs of nation identifier andpresent time. The present time is incremented like the clock. The worldtime holding unit 2404 may also hold one or more pairs of timedifference information from a reference nation (for example, Japan) andnation identifier.

The map display unit 2405 displays map information. The map display unit2405 displays map information of the map information storage unit 2402in the display unit. The map information unit 2405 may or may notcontain the display. When the map display unit 2405 does not containdisplay, the map display unit 2405 instructs an external display to showthe map information.

The moving picture display unit 2406 displays one or more movingpictures in a manner visually expressing the position information asattribute value of the pertinent moving picture. The moving picturedisplay unit 2406 displays the moving picture corresponding to thepresent time when issuing the moving picture. That is, when the presenttime is in the evening, the moving picture display unit 2406 displaysthe moving picture conforming to the evening time. In such a case, timeinformation is added to the stream of moving picture. Further, themoving picture display unit 2406 displays a moving picture correspondingto the present time in other nation by referring to the world clock inthe world clock holding unit 2404 if the position information showsother nation. The moving picture display unit 2406 may or may notcontain the display. If the moving picture display unit 2406 does notcontain display, the moving picture display unit 2406 instructs anexternal display to show the moving picture. The processing procedure ofthe moving picture display unit 2406 for display control of movingpicture is realized by software, and the software is recorded in ROM orother recording medium. It may be also realized by hardware (exclusivecircuit).

The operation of the moving picture display device is explained below byreferring to the flowchart in FIG. 25. Operation of the moving picturedisplay device may be started by user's instruction, instruction fromother device, or automatically.

(Step S2501) The map display unit 2405 acquires map information from themap information storage unit 2402.

(Step S2502) The map display unit 2405 displays the map from the mapinformation acquired at step S2501.

(Step S2503) The moving picture display unit 2406 puts “1” in counter i.

(Step S2504) The moving picture display unit 2406 judges if i-th movingpicture is present in the moving picture storage unit 2401 or not. Theprocess goes to step S2505 if i-th moving picture is present, or isterminated if not present.

(Step S2505) The moving picture display unit 2406 acquires attributevalue “position information” of i-th moving picture.

(Step S2506) The moving picture display unit 2406 determines the displayposition of i-th moving picture on the basis of position informationacquired at step S2505.

(Step S2507) The moving picture display unit 2406 acquires attributevalue “nation identifier” of i-th moving picture.

(Step S2508) The present time acquiring unit 2403 acquires the presenttime, and the moving picture display unit 2406 determines the time onthe basis of the nation identifier acquired at step S2507 and thepresent time. The moving picture display unit 2406 usually determinesthe time also by using the information of the world clock holding unit2404.

(Step S2509) The moving picture display unit 2406 determines the outputstart position of i-th moving picture on the basis of the time acquiredat step S2508. The output start time is the position indicating thefirst field to be issued in the stream of moving picture.

(Step S2510) The moving picture display unit 2406 issues a movingpicture from the field indicated by the output start position determinedat step S2509. Unless interrupted by input of end time, the movingpicture once issued continues to be issued in parallel.

(Step S2511) The counter i is incremented by 1. Then the process returnsto step S2504.

In the flowchart in FIG. 25, output of map information is not alwaysnecessary. It is not required to issue moving picture on the basis ofpresent time or world clock. That is, when the moving picture displaydevice displays a moving picture, the position information as attributevalue of this moving picture is expressed visually. The moving pictureand position information are related in some manner or other.

A specific operation of the moving picture display device in thepreferred embodiment is explained. This moving picture display deviceis, for example, an information processing device of sightseeing guideinstalled in a tourist office. The moving picture display device holds amoving picture management table shown in FIG. 26. The moving picturemanagement table stores one or more records showing the ID, movingpicture identifier, position information, nation identifier, and movingpicture. The moving picture identifier, position information, and nationidentifier are attribute values of the moving picture. The positioninformation herein is (latitude, longitude), but may be informationshowing other position. The nation identifier is the information foridentifying a nation. The nation identifier may be a nation code or thelike. Herein, time information is added in part or whole of the field(still picture) composing the moving picture.

The moving picture display device holds map information in FIG. 27.Herein, FIG. 27 is the information showing the world map. The movingpicture display device also holds world clock information managementtable in FIG. 28. The world clock information management table storesone or more records having the ID, nation identifier and timedifference.

In such a case, the moving picture display device is started, forexample, by user's instruction, and shows plural maps and movingpictures as shown in FIG. 29. The moving picture display device displaysmoving pictures of sightseeing in Kyoto, sightseeing in America, andsightseeing in China, at positions of corresponding maps, on the basisof the position information of the moving pictures.

The moving picture display device displays the moving picturecorresponding to the present time on the basis of the present time andtime difference information. For example, when the present time is 13:00in Japan time, the moving picture display device displays a daytimemoving picture in sightseeing in Kyoto, and nighttime moving picture(20:00) in sightseeing in America, and a daytime moving picture insightseeing in China.

According to the preferred embodiment, the moving picture display devicedisplays the moving picture in a manner of visually expressing theposition information which is the attribute value of the moving picture.

In the preferred embodiment, the moving picture display device displaysthe moving picture in consideration of the present time. The movingpicture display device further displays the moving picture inconsideration of the world time zone.

Hence, this moving picture display device may be preferably used asinformation display means for sightseeing guide or the like.

In the preferred embodiment, map display is not always necessary whendisplaying the moving picture. That is, instead of the display in FIG.29, plural moving pictures may be displayed as shown in FIG. 30. Themoving picture display in FIG. 30 shows the moving picture located atthe west side at the left side. That is, the moving picture displaydevice displays the moving picture in a manner to express visually theposition information corresponding to the moving picture.

In the preferred embodiment, it is not essentially required to displaythe moving picture in consideration of the present time or timedifference.

In the preferred embodiment, the moving picture display device is astand-alone type, but the moving picture may be displayed by a clientdevice by instruction from client device if data is present in a serverdevice.

Further, processing in the preferred embodiment may be realized bysoftware. The software may be distributed by downloading. Or thesoftware may be recorded and distributed in recording medium such asCD-ROM. The software for realizing the information processing device inthe preferred embodiment is a program described below. That is, thisprogram is a program for causing a computer to execute a step ofdetermining the display position of moving picture on the basis ofposition information forming pair with one or more moving pictures, anda step of displaying one or more moving pictures at position indicatedby the display position.

Preferred Embodiment 5

This preferred embodiment relates to a moving picture display device forcomposing selection menu of moving pictures by accepting selection ofmoving picture being reproduced, during reproduction of plural movingpictures on the basis of schedule information, in which the scheduleinformation is changed on the basis of the selected moving picture whenone moving picture is selected, and thereby the reproduction sequence ofmoving pictures is changed.

FIG. 31 is a block diagram of moving picture display device in thispreferred embodiment. The moving picture display device comprises amoving picture storage unit 3101, a moving picture display unit 3102, aninput accepting unit 103, a moving picture menu compiling unit 104, amenu display unit 105, a motion reproducing unit 106, and a scheduleinformation changing unit 3107. The moving picture display unit 3102includes schedule information holding unit 31021, and moving picturedisplay means 31022.

The moving picture storage unit 3101 stores moving pictures and one ormore sets of characteristic value as information about characteristic ofmoving pictures. The moving picture storage unit 3101 is preferably anonvolatile recording medium, but may be also realized by a volatilerecording medium.

The schedule information changing unit 3107 changes the scheduleinformation held in the schedule information holding means 31021 on thebasis of the accepted input when the input accepting unit 103 acceptsinput about display of moving picture. Specific algorithm for changingthe schedule information is described below. The schedule informationchanging unit 3107 is usually realized by MPU or other memory. Theprocessing procedure of the schedule information changing unit 3107 isrealized by software, and the software is recorded in ROM or otherrecording medium. It may be also realized by hardware (exclusivecircuit).

The schedule information holding unit 31021 holds schedule informationas information about schedule for displaying plural moving pictures.Data structure of schedule information is not specified. Scheduleinformation is not always required to be present as entity information,but the sequence of moving pictures stored in the moving picture storageunit 3101 may be considered to be schedule information. A specificexample of schedule information is given later. The schedule informationholding unit 31021 may be either nonvolatile recording medium orvolatile recording medium.

The moving picture display means 31022 displays whole or part of pluralmoving pictures sequentially on the basis of the schedule information.The moving picture display means 31022 displays whole or part of unshownplural moving pictures sequentially on the basis of the changed scheduleinformation when the schedule information is changed by the scheduleinformation changing unit 3107. The moving picture display means 31022is usually realized by MPU or other memory. The processing procedure ofthe moving picture display means 31022 for displaying moving pictures isrealized by software and/or hardware (exclusive circuit). The movingpicture display means 31022 may either include a display or controloutput to an external display.

Operation of the moving picture processing device is explained byreferring to the flowchart in FIG. 32. Explanation is omitted about samesteps as in the flowchart in FIG. 2.

(Step S3201) The moving picture display means 31022 acquires scheduleinformation held in the schedule information holding means 31021.

(Step S3202) The moving picture display means 31022 puts “1” in counteri.

(Step S3203) The moving picture display means 31022 displays i-th movingpicture on the basis of schedule information acquired at step S3201.This operation of display of moving picture is carried out parallel tooperation at other step. That is, during display of moving picture,input from the user can be accepted. When display of one moving pictureis over, it is incremented, and i-th moving picture is displayedsuccessively.

(Step S3204) It is judged if the input accepted at step S201 is an inputfor instruction of display of moving picture menu or not. The processgoes to step S3205 in the case of input for instruction of display ofmoving picture menu, or jumps to step S213 otherwise.

(Step S3205) The menu display unit 105 judges if the moving picture menuis registered or not. Suppose the moving picture menu compiled at stepS210 is registered automatically. The process goes to step S3206 whenthe moving picture menu is registered, or returns to step S201 if notregistered.

(Step S3206) The menu display unit 105 displays the registered movingpicture menu. Then the process returns to step S201.

(Step S3207) The schedule information changing unit 3107 changes theschedule information held in the schedule information holding means31021, corresponding to selection of moving picture. Detail of changingprocess of schedule information is explained later by referring to theflowchart in FIG. 33.

(Step S3208) The schedule information changing unit 3107 instructs themoving picture display means 31022 to jump the moving picture display ofthe moving picture display means 31022 to next moving picture. Then theprocess returns to step S201.

Operation of the schedule information changing unit 3107 for changingthe schedule information is explained by referring to the flowchart inFIG. 33.

(Step 3301) The schedule information changing unit 3107 acquirescharacteristic value of moving picture selected at step S205. Herein,the moving picture storage unit 3101 is supposed to store movingpictures and one or more sets of characteristic value as informationabout the characteristic of moving pictures. The characteristic value isthe information showing the nature of moving picture, and a specificexample is explained below.

(Step 3302) The schedule information changing unit 3107 puts “1” incounter j.

(Step 3303) The schedule information changing unit 3107 judges if j-thunshown moving picture is present or not. The process goes to step S3304if j-th unshown moving picture is present, or jumps to step S3308 if notpresent.

(Step 3304) The schedule information changing unit 3107 acquires thecharacteristic value of j-th unshown moving picture from the movingpicture storage unit 3101.

(Step 3305) The schedule information changing unit 3107 calculatesapproximation of the characteristic value of moving picture acquired atstep S3301 and the characteristic value of moving picture obtained atstep S3304. Algorithm for determining approximation (or similarity) isnot specified. The technique for obtaining approximation of pluralpieces of information on the basis of characteristic values of pluralpieces of information is known, and various methods are available.

(Step 3306) The schedule information changing unit 3107 accumulates themoving picture identifier as information for identifying j-th unshownmoving picture and the approximation calculated at step S3305 in a pair.

(Step 3307) The schedule information changing unit 3107 increments j by1. Then the process returns to step S3303.

(Step 3308) The schedule information changing unit 3107 sorts the movingpicture identifier on the basis of plural values of approximationaccumulated at step S3306. The sorting technology is a known art, andits explanation is omitted.

(Step 3309) The schedule information changing unit 3107 updates theschedule information so as to reproduce in the sequence of movingpictures identified by the moving picture identifier sorted at stepS3308. The process is terminated.

Specific operation of moving picture processing system comprising themoving picture processing device in the preferred embodiment isexplained. The concept of the moving picture processing system is sameas shown in FIG. 3. FIG. 34 shows a moving picture management table ofmoving picture storage unit 101. The moving picture management tableholds one or more records having ID, moving picture identificationinformation, characteristic value, and moving picture. Thecharacteristic value is the attribute value of moving picture includingthe rating of serious, hard-boiled, fairy tale, and home drama. Ratingof serious shows the degree of seriousness of the moving picture. Agreater value means a more serious moving picture. Rating of hard-boiledshows the degree of hard-boiled level. Rating of fairy tale shows thedegree of fairy. Rating of home drama shows the degree of at-homeatmosphere.

FIG. 35 shows a schedule information management table of scheduleinformation holding means 31021. The moving picture display means 31022displays moving pictures sequentially according to the scheduleinformation management table. In the case of the schedule informationmanagement table in FIG. 35, the moving picture display means 31022plans to display moving picture X of ID=1 at first, followedsequentially by moving picture Y, . . . , moving picture N.

In this moving picture processing device, first, the user starts themoving picture processing device by using the remote controller.Specifically, the power button of the remote controller is pressed.

When the moving picture processing device is started, the moving pictureprocessing device reads out the moving pictures from the moving picturestorage unit 3101 and displays in the display unit in the sequenceconforming to the schedule information management table in FIG. 35.First, the moving picture processing device reads out and displaysmoving picture X. Suppose the user does not like moving picture X, anddoes not select moving picture X. As a result, the moving pictureprocessing device reads out and displays moving picture Y. This userlikes home drama, and selects moving picture Y by the remote controller.

Consequently, the moving picture processing device reads out thecharacteristic values of moving picture Y, serious rating of 1,hard-boiled rating of 1, fairy tale rating of 2, and home drama ratingof 9. The moving picture processing device reads out characteristicvalues of unshown moving pictures sequentially. From the readcharacteristic values of unshown moving pictures and characteristicvalues of the selected moving picture, approximation of unshown movingpictures and moving picture Y is calculated. The approximation is thetotal of absolute values of difference of four characteristic values oftwo moving pictures. Now, the moving picture processing device reads outall characteristic values of moving picture Z of ID=3. The movingpicture processing device calculates the difference between seriousrating of 1 of moving picture Y and serious rating of 7 of movingpicture Z (7−1=6), the difference between hard-boiled rating of 1 ofmoving picture Y and hard-boiled rating of 5 of moving picture Z(5−1=4), the difference between fairy tale rating of 2 of moving pictureY and fairly tale rating of 3 of moving picture Z (3−2=1), and thedifference between home drama rating of 9 of moving picture Y and homedrama rating of 1 of moving picture Z (9−1=8), and sums up the total ofdifferences (6+4+1+8=19). That is, the approximation of moving picture Yand moving picture Z is 19. When the approximation value is smaller, thesimilarity is higher, and when the value is larger, the similarity islower. Next, the moving picture processing device reads out thecharacteristic values of moving picture of ID=4, compares thecharacteristic values of moving picture of ID=4 with characteristicvalues of moving picture Y, and calculates the approximation of movingpicture of ID=4 with moving picture Y. Similarly, the moving pictureprocessing device calculates the approximation of moving pictures ofID=5, ID=6, . . . , ID=N, with moving picture Y. Thus, the movingpicture processing device acquires an approximation table as shown inFIG. 36. The approximation table manages one or more records having themoving picture identification information and approximation. This is atable showing approximation between the moving picture identified bymoving picture identification table, and the selected moving picture Y.The moving picture processing device sorts the approximation table inthe ascending order (from smaller value up) using the approximation asthe key. As a result, new schedule information is acquired, whichincludes one or more records having the ID and moving pictureidentification information. The ID is given sequentially from integer 1(see FIG. 37).

According to this new schedule information, the moving pictureprocessing device displays moving picture A. If the user does not selectmoving picture A, the moving picture processing device displays movingpicture N. If the user selects moving picture A, on the basis of movingpicture A, again, new schedule information is created similarly so as todisplay moving pictures similar to moving picture A sequentially.

According to the preferred embodiment, by accepting selection of movingpicture being reproduced during reproduction of plural moving pictures,the moving picture processing device composing selection menu of movingpictures can change the schedule of display of moving pictures andchange the sequence of reproduction of moving pictures, on the basis ofthe selected moving picture when one moving picture is selected. In thisprocessing, moving pictures preferred by the user can be found outearlier, and a menu can be composed in a short time when compiling amenu of moving pictures.

In the preferred embodiment, the schedule information is updated everytime a displayed moving picture is selected, but the scheduleinformation may be updated only when the moving picture is selected forthe first time, and the updating timing of schedule information is notspecified.

In the preferred embodiment, algorithm of changing schedule informationis not specified. For example, a moving picture may be characterized byone characteristic value alone. Or the schedule information may bechanged so as to display from the moving picture not similar to theselected moving picture. By such changing method of scheduleinformation, a well-balanced menu of moving pictures may be compiled ina shorter time. That is, in the moving picture processing device fordisplaying plural moving pictures sequentially, accepting an input onthe displayed moving picture, composing the menu by the accepted movingpictures, and displaying the menu of these moving pictures, the movingpicture processing device is only required to change the sequence ofdisplay of unshown moving pictures, out of plural moving pictures, onthe basis of input on the displayed moving picture.

In the preferred embodiment, structure of schedule information is notspecified.

The software for realizing the process of the moving picture processingdevice in the preferred embodiment is a program described below. Thatis, this program is a program for causing a computer to execute a movingpicture display step of displaying whole or part of stored plural movingpictures sequentially, an input accepting step of accepting an input ondisplay of moving picture, a moving picture menu compiling step ofcompiling a menu from moving pictures displayed when accepting an inputat the input accepting step, and a menu display step of displaying amenu of moving pictures compiled at the moving picture menu compilingstep, in which the display sequence of moving pictures at the movingpicture display step is changed on the basis of the input accepted atthe input accepting step.

Preferred Embodiment 6

This preferred embodiment relates to an information processing devicefor displaying an electronic program guide, and more specifically thisinformation processing device is capable of changing the display framesize as the size of frame for displaying program information, on thebasis of one or more pieces of time zone information possessed by one ormore pieces of program information being displayed.

FIG. 38 is a block diagram of configuration of information processingdevice in this preferred embodiment. The information processing devicecomprises a program information storage unit 1601, a moving picturestorage unit 1602, an input accepting unit 3801, and a program guidedisplay unit 3802. The program guide display unit 3802 includes displayprogram information acquiring means 38021, display frame sizedetermining means 38022, program guide compiling means 38023, andprogram guide display means 38024.

The input accepting unit 3801 accepts an input of instruction of displayof electronic program guide, instruction of move of displayed electronicprogram guide, and instruction of end of display of electronic programguide. Instruction of move is an instruction to change over the programinformation to be displayed on the screen, or a scroll instruction. Theinput means includes remote controller, numeric key, keyboard, mouse,menu screen, etc. The input accepting unit 3801 is realized by infraredphoto detector for receiving signal from infrared remote controller,device driver of input means such as numeric key or keyboard, controlsoftware of menu screen, etc.

The display program information acquiring means 38021 acquires programinformation to be displayed from the program information storage unit1601, according to the move instruction of electronic program guideinstructed and displayed by the electronic program guide accepted in theinput accepting unit 3801.

The display frame size determining means 38022 determines the displayframe size of one or more pieces of program information to be displayedon the basis of one or more pieces of time zone information possessed byone or more pieces of program information acquired in the displayprogram information acquiring means 38021. The display frame sizedetermining means 38022 is usually realized by MPU or other memory. Theprocessing procedure of the display frame size determining means 38022is realized by software, and the software is recorded in ROM or otherrecording medium. It may be also realized by hardware (exclusivecircuit).

The program guide compiling means 38023 compiles an electronic programguide on the basis of the display frame size determined in the displayframe size determining means 38022 and one or more pieces of programinformation acquired in the display program information acquiring means38021. The program guide compiling means 38023 is usually realized byMPU or other memory. The processing procedure of the program guidecompiling means 38023 is usually realized by software, and the softwareis recorded in ROM or other recording medium. It may be also realized byhardware (exclusive circuit).

The program guide display means 38024 displays an electronic programguide compiled by the program guide compiling means 38023. The programguide display means 38024 may or may not contain display. The programguide display means 38024 is realized by driver software of display, ordriver software of display and display.

Operation of the information processing device is explained by referringto the flowchart in FIG. 39.

(Step S3901) The input accepting unit 3801 judges if an input isaccepted or not. The process goes to step S3902 when input is accepted,or jumps to step S3918 if not accepted.

(Step S3902) The input accepting unit 3801 judges if the input acceptedat step S3901 is display instruction of electronic program guide or not.The process goes to step S3903 if display of electronic program guide isinstructed, or jumps to step S3918 otherwise.

(Step S3903) The display program information acquiring means 38021acquires program information to be displayed from the programinformation storage unit 1601. The program information to be displayedis, for example, the program information first displaying the electronicprogram guide, and located at the position stored at the time of end ofdisplay (channel, time zone). The program information to be displayedmay be program information at a fixed position (channel, time zone) whendisplaying electronic program information.

(Step S3904) The display frame size determining means 38022 initializes.Initializing is to put “1” in counter i. Initializing is also a processof putting 10000 (10000 is time zone information unable to be possessedin program information) in the setting value as necessary value whensetting the frame size.

(Step S3905) The display frame size determining means 38022 judges ifi-th program information is present or not in the program informationacquired at step S3903. The process goes to step S3906 if i-th programinformation is present, or jumps to step S3910 is not present.

(Step S3906) The display frame size determining means 38022 acquirestime zone information possessed in i-th program information. The timezone information is the information showing the on-air time of theprogram, and it may be calculated from the program start time andprogram end time possessed in the program information, or it may beprogram output time possessed in the program information. When theprogram zone information is the program output information possessed inprogram information, the program information possesses the program starttime and program output time.

(Step S3907) The display frame size determining means 38022 judges ifthe setting value is greater than the time zone information acquired atstep S3906 or not. The process goes to step S3908 if the setting valueis greater than the time zone information, or jumps to step S3909 ifsmaller.

(Step S3908) The display frame size determining means 38022 puts thetime zone information in the setting value.

(Step S3909) The display frame size determining means 38022 incrementscounter i by 1. Then the process returns to step S3905.

(Step S3910) The display frame size determining means 38022 determinesthe display frame size of program information on the basis of the lengthof the duration indicated by setting value as reference size of size 1.The display frame size determining means 38022 determines, for example,when the duration indicated by setting value is 15 minutes, the displayframe of 15-minute program width as size 1, the display frame of30-minute program width as size 2, and the display frame of 60-minuteprogram width as size 4.

(Step S3911) The program guide compiling means 38023 puts “1” in counteri.

(Step S3912) The program guide compiling means 38023 judges if i-thprogram information is present or not. This program information is theprogram information to be displayed acquired at step S3903.

(Step S3913) The program guide compiling means 38023 acquires time zoneinformation of i-th program information, and determines the frame sizeof i-th program information from this time zone information and framesize obtained at step S3910.

(Step S3914) The program guide compiling means 38023 compiles a displayformat of program information by the frame size determined at stepS3913. To compile a display format of program information is to composeda program image to be displayed. The program guide compiling means 38023compiles the display format of program information, for example, on thebasis of title of the program possessed in the program information, andmoving picture corresponding to the program information. The movingpicture is present in the moving picture storage unit 1602.

(Step S3915) The program guide compiling means 38023 increments counteri by 1. Then the process returns to step S3912.

(Step S3916) The program guide compiling means 38023 compiles a frame ofelectronic program guide. This frame is the entire frame of electronicprogram guide, and includes, for example, channel number on the axis ofordinates and time information on the axis of abscissas.

(Step S3917) The program guide display means 38024 displays anelectronic program guide compiled by the program guide compiling means38023. This electronic program guide usually contains the moving picturefor specifying the program, but may not contain.

(Step S3918) The input accepting unit 3801 judges if the input acceptedat step S3901 is move instruction of electronic program guide or not.The process goes to step S3903 if move of electronic program guide isinstructed, or goes to step S3919 if not instructed. Move instruction isexecuted by pressing, for example, the cross key of the remotecontroller. When the user presses the right arrow button of cross key,the electronic program guide is scrolled to left.

(Step S3919) The input accepting unit 3801 judges if the input acceptedat step S3901 is end instruction of display of electronic program guideor not. The process is terminated if end of display of electronicprogram guide is instructed, or returns to step S3901 if not instructed.

In this flowchart, in the case of output of moving picture, usually theoutput continues. When receiving end instruction of display of programguide, output of frame of program guide and moving picture isterminated.

Specific operation of information processing device in the preferredembodiment is described below. Suppose the information processing deviceis holding the program information management table shown in FIG. 18. Bythe output time in FIG. 18, time zone information is obtained. Forexample, the output time of program AA is 17:00-18:00, and the time zoneinformation is calculated as 60 minutes.

The user enters display instruction of electronic program guide from theremote controller. The information processing device extracts theprogram information to be displayed as shown in FIG. 40. Programinformation to be displayed is extracted on the basis of information oflast memory of television (the last seen channel number) and informationof the present time. For example, the user has last seen channel 8 andthe present time is 10 a.m. In this case, the information processingdevice extracts program information of channel 8 and adjacent channel10, and program information from 10:00 to 16:00.

Next, the information processing device acquires 15 minutes as theminimum value of time zone information possessed inn the extractedprogram information. In the extracted program information, 15-minuteprogram is the shortest program. The information processing device set15 minutes as size 1. The information processing device sets a 60-minuteprogram as size 4. Its frame is smaller than size 1, it is hard to seethe program information for the user.

The information processing device determines the display frame size ofall programs on the basis of time zone information of all extractedprograms. The information processing device further displays the titleof program information and moving picture corresponding to programinformation on the basis of this display frame size. The informationprocessing device composes and displays the axis of ordinatesrepresenting the channel and axis of abscissas denoting the time axis ofthe frame of electronic program guide. As a result, the informationprocessing device displays an electronic program guide shown in FIG. 41.In FIG. 41, the time length of 15 minutes is size 1, and the informationprocessing device can display the program information from 10:00 to13:00.

Incidentally, when the information processing device determines the timelength of 30 minutes as size 1, as shown in FIG. 42, program informationfor six hours from 10:00 to 16:00 can be displayed. In this case, theshortest time of time zone information of program information to bedisplayed is 30 minutes.

The information processing device in the preferred embodiment is, asdescribed herein, an information processing device for displaying anelectronic program guide including one or more pieces of programinformation having program identifier as information for identifying aprogram and time zone information as information showing on-air timezone of a program, and this information processing device is capable ofchanging the size of frame of program information one the basis of oneor more pieces of time zone information possessed in one or moredisplayed pieces of program information. A very easy-to-read electronicprogram guide is obtained by this information processing device.

According to the preferred embodiment, on the basis of programinformation having the shortest time zone information, the display framesize of program information of electronic program guide is determined,but the display frame size of program information of electronic programguide may be determined also by other algorithm. The informationprocessing device may determine the size of frame of one or more piecesof program information to be displayed on the basis of one or morepieces of time zone information of one or more pieces of programinformation to be displayed. For example, the information processingdevice may determine the size of frame of program information on thebasis of the longest time zone information. In such a case, multiplepieces of program information can be displayed on the screen, and it iseasier to select a program to be viewed or to be reserved and recorded.Among time zone information of displayed program information, thedisplay frame size of program information may be determined on the basisof the longest time zone information.

In the preferred embodiment, the moving picture is displayed in theprogram frame, but display of moving picture is not always necessary.Moving pictures can be displayed in various manners, and, for example,the moving picture is issued in a width of a region corresponding totime zone information (output time of program), or the moving picturemay be cut and issued in a region depending on the time zoneinformation. The same applies to the following preferred embodiments.

The software for realizing the information processing device in thepreferred embodiment is a program described below. That is, this programis a program for causing a computer to execute an input accepting stepof accepting an input of display instruction of electronic programguide, move instruction of displayed electronic program guide, or thelike, a display program information acquiring step of acquiring programinformation to be displayed, a display frame size determining step ofdetermining the size of display frame of one or more pieces of programinformation to be displayed on the basis of one or more pieces of timezone information of one or more pieces of program information acquiredat the display program information acquiring step, and a step ofcomposing and displaying an electronic program guide on the basis of thedisplay frame size determined at the display frame size determiningstep.

Preferred Embodiment 7

This preferred embodiment relates to an information processing devicefor displaying an electronic program guide, and more specifically thisinformation processing device is capable of changing the size of frameof program information, on the basis of time zone information possessedin the program information being focused.

FIG. 43 is a block diagram of configuration of information processingdevice in this preferred embodiment. The information processing devicecomprises a program information storage unit 1601, a moving picturestorage unit 1602, an input accepting unit 4301, and a program guidedisplay unit 4302. The program guide display unit 4302 includes displayprogram information acquiring means 38021, focus program informationacquiring means 43021, display frame size determining means 43022,program guide compiling means 38023, and program guide display means38024.

The input accepting unit 4301 accepts an input of display instruction ofelectronic program guide, instruction of program information to befocused, display end instruction of electronic program guide, or otherinstruction. Instruction of program information to be focused is toinstruct program information to be noticed, out of one or more pieces ofprogram information being displayed. The program identified by focusedprogram information can be reserved and recorded, viewed, or reserved adviewed. The input accepting unit 4301 is realized by the same means asin the input accepting unit 3801.

The focus program information acquiring means 43021 determines theprogram information to be focused on the basis of the input accepted atthe input accepting unit 4301, selects from the program informationacquired in the display program information acquiring means 38021, andacquires the determined program information. The focus programinformation acquiring means 43021 is usually realized by MPU or othermemory. The processing procedure of the focus program informationacquiring means 43021 is realized by software, and the software isrecorded in ROM or other recording medium. It may be also realized byhardware (exclusive circuit).

The display frame size determining means 43022 determines the displayframe size on the basis of the time zone information of the programinformation acquired in the focus program information acquiring means43021. The display frame size determining means 43022 is usuallyrealized by MPU or other memory. The processing procedure of the displayframe size determining means 43022 is realized by software, and thesoftware is recorded in ROM or other recording medium. It may be alsorealized by hardware (exclusive circuit).

Operation of the information processing device is explained by referringto the flowchart in FIG. 44. Explanation is omitted about the same stepsas in the flowchart in FIG. 39.

(Step S4401) The focus program information acquiring means 43021determines the program information to be focused on the basis of theinput at step S3901, and acquires the program information.

(Step S4402) The display frame size determining means 43022 determinesthe display frame size on the basis of time zone information of theprogram information acquired in the focus program information acquiringmeans 43021. Various algorithms are available for determining thedisplay frame size. Specific examples of algorithms are given later.

(Step S4403) The input accepting unit 4301 judges if the input acceptedat step S3901 is move instruction of focus or not. The process goes tostep S3903 in the case of move instruction of focus, or goes to stepS3919 otherwise.

In this flowchart, when a moving picture is issued, usually, the outputcontinues. When accepting an end instruction of display of programguide, output of program guide frame and moving picture is terminated.

Specific operation of information processing device in the preferredembodiment is described. Suppose the information processing device isholding program information management table shown in FIG. 18. By theoutput time in FIG. 18, time zone information is acquired. For example,the output time of program AA is 17:00-18:00, and the time zoneinformation is calculated as 60 minutes.

The user enters display instruction of electronic program guide from theremote controller. Then the information processing device extracts theprogram information to be displayed as shown in FIG. 40.

The information processing device acquires the focused programinformation. Suppose this program information is program information ofprogram 15. Then, the information processing device displays aelectronic program guide as shown in FIG. 45. In FIG. 45, programinformation of program 15 is focused and highlighted. In FIG. 45,program information of 30-minute program is indicated in display framesize of reference length of 2.

The user moves the focus from the frame of program 15 to program 16. Inthis case, the focus is moved by pressing the right arrow button ofcross key of the remote controller.

As a result, the information processing device acquires programinformation of program 16 as the program information to be focused. Theinformation processing device acquires that the time zone information ofthe program information of program 16 is 15 minutes. The informationprocessing device determines the display frame size of programinformation on the basis of the time length of 15 minutes. That is, theinformation processing device determines the time length of 15 minutesas, for example, reference size of 2, and displays program 16 in adouble display frame size (double size in lateral length). Program 16 isdisplayed in the center of display frame, and the surrounding programinformation is similarly displayed in double lateral size. As a result,the information processing device displays the electronic program guideas shown in FIG. 46. In FIG. 46, the program information is displayedonly from 10:15 to 12:15.

The information processing device in the preferred embodiment is aninformation processing device for displaying an electronic program guideincluding one or more pieces of program information having programidentifier as information for identifying a program and time zoneinformation as information showing the on-air time zone of the program,and this information processing device is capable of changing the sizeof frame of program information on the basis of the time zoneinformation of the focused program information. By this informationprocessing device, an electronic program guide very easy to read thefocused program information can be obtained.

In the information processing device of the preferred embodiment fordisplaying electronic program table including one or more pieces ofinformation having program identifier and time zone information, theinformation processing device is merely intended to change the size offrame of program information on the basis of the time zone informationof the focused program information, and the display frame size offocused program information may be changed by any algorithm whatsoever.However, when the display frame size of other program information ischanged on the basis of time zone information of focused programinformation, the relation between the focused program information andtime zone information of other program information is not spoiled, whichis more preferable.

The software for realizing the information processing device in thepreferred embodiment is a program described below. That is, this programis a program for causing a computer to execute an input accepting stepof accepting an input of instruction of program information to befocused, a step of acquiring time zone information of the programinformation focused by this input, a step of determining the size offrame of program information on the basis of the time zone information,and a step of composing and displaying an electronic program guide onthe basis of the determined display size.

Preferred Embodiment 8

This preferred embodiment relates to an information processing devicefor displaying an electronic program guide including moving pictures,and more specifically to the information processing device capable ofdisplaying the moving picture by changing the display method on thebasis of time zone information.

FIG. 47 is a block diagram of configuration of information processingdevice in this preferred embodiment. The information processing devicecomprises a program information storage unit 1601, a moving picturestorage unit 4701, an input accepting unit 3801, and a program guidedisplay unit 4702. The program guide display unit 4702 includes displayprogram information acquiring means 38021, time zone informationacquiring means 47022, moving picture acquiring means 47023, displaymethod determining means 47024, and program guide display means 47025.

The moving picture storage unit 4701 stores one or more moving picturesfor identifying program information. The moving picture is a set ofstill pictures composed of plural objects. A representative identifieris given to one still picture representing a moving picture. Therepresentative identifier is information for identifying arepresentative still picture as a still picture representing the movingpicture. The entity data of moving picture has data structure of MPEG4or MPEG7. Method of acquiring moving picture is not specified. Movingpicture may be acquired by receiving broadcast, by downloading throughnetwork, or reading out from recording medium. The moving picturestorage unit 4701 is preferably a nonvolatile recording medium, but maybe also realized by a volatile recording medium.

The time zone information acquiring means 47022 acquires time zoneinformation from each program information acquired in the displayprogram information acquiring means 38021. The time zone informationacquiring means 47022 is usually realized by MPU or other memory. Theprocessing procedure of the time zone information acquiring means 47022is realized by software, and the software is recorded in ROM or otherrecording medium. It may be also realized by hardware (exclusivecircuit).

The moving picture acquiring means 47023 acquires a moving picturecorresponding to the program information to be displayed from the movingpicture storage unit 4701. The moving picture acquiring means 47023 isusually realized by MPU or other memory. The processing procedure of themoving picture acquiring means 47023 is realized by software, and thesoftware is recorded in ROM or other recording medium. It may be alsorealized by hardware (exclusive circuit).

The display method determining means 47024 determines the display methodof moving picture corresponding to program information on the basis oftime zone information acquired in the time zone information acquiringmeans 47022. Display method of moving picture includes display of movingpicture, still picture, frame feed, fast feed, or part of object onlyfor composing moving picture, reproduction of moving picture atarbitrary reproduction speed. Algorithm for determining display methodof display method determining means 47024 is not specified. For example,the display method determining means 47024 holds a correspondence tableof time zone information and display method, and determines the displaymethod corresponding to the time zone information by searching from thiscorrespondence table. The display method determining means 47024 isusually realized by MPU or other memory. The processing procedure of thedisplay method determining means 47024 is realized by software, and thesoftware is recorded in ROM or other recording medium. It may be alsorealized by hardware (exclusive circuit).

The program guide display means 47025 displays an electronic programguide having moving pictures and others on the basis of the displaymethod determined by the display method determining means 47024. Theprogram guide display means 47025 may or may not contain display. Theprogram guide display means 47025 is realized by driver software ofdisplay, or driver software of display and display, etc.

Operation of the information processing device is explained by referringto the flowchart in FIG. 48.

(Step S4801) The display method determining means 47024 determines thedisplay method (moving picture, still picture, frame feed, etc.) ofimage showing a program, on the basis of time zone information acquiredin the time zone information acquiring means 47022. At step S3906, thetime one information acquiring means 47022 acquires time zoneinformation of i-th program information.

(Step S4802) The program guide display means 47025 displays the frame ofi-th program information.

(Step S4803) The moving picture acquiring means 47023 acquires themoving picture corresponding to i-th program information, and theprogram guide display means 47025 displays an image by a display methoddetermined at step S4801, to this moving picture. The program guidedisplay means 47025 reproduces the moving picture as it is, reproducesat specified speed, displays a representative still picture of themoving picture, reproduces by frame feeding, or reproduces onlyspecified object for composing the moving picture. Then the process goesto step S3908.

(Step S4804) The program guide display means 47025 composes theappearance of electronic program guide from one or more pieces ofprogram information to be displayed. The appearance has, for example,the axis of abscissas showing the channel number and the axis ofordinates showing the time zone. The same effects are obtained if theaxis of abscissas and the axis of ordinates are exchanged.

(Step S4805) The program guide display means 47025 displays theappearance of electronic program guide composed at step S4804. Then theprocess returns to step S3901.

In this flowchart, when a moving picture is issued, usually, the outputcontinues. When accepting an end instruction of display of programguide, output of program guide frame and moving picture is terminated.

Specific operation of information processing device in the preferredembodiment is described. Suppose the information processing device isholding program information management table shown in FIG. 18. By theoutput time in FIG. 18, time zone information is acquired. For example,the output time of program AA is 17:00-18:00, and the time zoneinformation is calculated as 60 minutes. The display method determiningmeans 47024 holds the display method management table shown in FIG. 49.The display method management table includes one or more records havingID, time zone information, and display method. The ID is the informationfor identifying a record, and it is present for the sake of tablemanagement. The time zone information shows the width of time zoneinformation. The display method is the information for identifying adisplay method. In the display method management method, when the timezone information of the program information or calculated from theprogram information is 8 minutes, it means that the display method is“object, still picture display.” The “object, still picture display”means display of specified object only in the still picture having therepresentative identifier as information for identifying therepresentative still picture among still pictures representing themoving picture. The specified object is the image of the person, forexample, if the still picture shows both scenery (background) and aperson. Still picture display is display of representative still picturerepresenting the moving picture. The frame feed reproduction is displaymethod of reproduction by frame feed of moving picture. “Speed 1, movingpicture reproduction” is display of moving picture at speed faster thanframe feed reproduction, but slower than standard reproduction. “Object,moving picture reproduction” is display method of reproducing onlyspecified object of still picture for composing the moving picture atmoving picture speed. “Moving picture standard reproduction” is displaymethod of moving picture at standard speed.

The user enters display instruction of electronic program guide from theremote controller. Then the information processing device reads out theprogram information to be displayed. Herein, the program information tobe displayed is part of program information in FIG. 18. First, theinformation processing device acquires time zone information of 60minutes of program AA. From the time zone information of 60 minutes,display method “speed 1, moving picture reproduction” is obtained. Themoving picture corresponding to program AA is acquired from the movingpicture storage unit, and this moving picture is displayed in thedisplay method corresponding to “speed 1, moving picture reproduction.”

Next, the information processing device acquires the time zoneinformation of 15 minutes of program BB. The information processingdevice acquires the display method “still picture display” correspondingto time zone information of 15 minutes. The information processingdevice acquires the moving picture corresponding to program BB from themoving picture storage unit, and display this moving picture in thedisplay method corresponding to the still picture display. That is, theinformation processing device selects and displays the representativestill picture (still picture provided with representative identifier) ofthe pertinent moving picture.

Further, the information processing device displays moving picturescorresponding to all program information to be displayed by the displaymethod shown in FIG. 49. As a result, the information processing devicedisplays an electronic program guide as shown in FIG. 50. In FIG. 50,the display method of moving pictures differs on the basis of time zoneinformation corresponding to program information. In such a case, thetitle of the program or others may be displayed.

The information processing device of the preferred embodiment is aninformation processing device for displaying an electronic program guideincluding one or more pieces of program information having programidentifier, time zone, and moving picture, and this informationprocessing device is also capable of displaying the moving picturepossessed in the program information by changing the display method ofmoving picture on the basis of time zone information. By suchinformation processing device, the moving picture can be displayed byconforming to the size of program frame, thereby obtaining an electronicprogram guide very easy to read, and easy to understand the contents ofprogram.

According to the preferred embodiment, program information and movingpicture correspond to each other, but it may be also considered thatprogram information includes moving picture. That is, data structure ofprogram information or moving picture is not specified.

In the preferred embodiment, the method of selecting a still picturefrom moving picture is to selecting a still picture by using arepresentative identifier, as the representative still picture as stillpicture representing a moving picture holds in pair with representativeidentifier as information for identifying the representative stillpicture, but a still picture may be also selected by other method. Forexample, a first still picture composing a moving picture may beselected.

The software for realizing the information processing device in thepreferred embodiment is a program described below. That is, this programis a program for causing a computer to execute a display programinformation acquiring step of acquiring one or more pieces of programinformation to be displayed, a time zone information acquiring step ofacquiring each time zone information of one or more pieces of programinformation acquired at the display program information acquiring step,a display method determining step of determining the display method onthe basis of each time zone information acquired at the time zoneinformation acquiring step, a moving picture acquiring step of acquiringone or more moving pictures corresponding to one or more pieces ofprogram information, and a program guide display step of displaying oneor more moving pictures acquired at the moving picture acquiring step,and displaying an electronic program guide including the moving picture,on the basis of the display method determined at the display methoddetermining step.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

The invention can be utilized as information processing device or thelike for displaying a menu of moving pictures. The invention can be alsoutilized as television, information processing device or the like fordisplaying an electronic program guide. The invention can be furtherutilized as information processing device or the like capable ofdisplaying a moving picture on a map.

1. An information processing device for displaying an electronic programguide, comprising: a program information storage unit storing one ormore pieces of program information as information about programs forcomposing an electronic program guide; a moving picture storage unitstoring one or more moving pictures for identifying the programinformation; and a program guide display unit for displaying anelectronic program guide including moving pictures, by using one or morepieces of program information in the program information storage unit,and one or more moving pictures in the moving picture storage unit,wherein the program guide display unit displays a moving picture foridentifying a program by changing the size of the program depending onthe output duration of the program.
 2. An information processing devicefor displaying a moving picture for identifying a program in anelectronic program guide, wherein a moving picture for identifying aprogram is displayed by changing the size of the moving picturedepending on the output duration of the program.
 3. An informationprocessing device for displaying an electronic program guide having oneor more pieces of program information having a program identifier asinformation for identifying a program and time zone information asinformation showing an on-air time zone of the program, comprising: aprogram information storage unit storing one or more pieces of programinformation; and a program information display unit for displaying oneor more pieces of program information out of the program informationstored in the program information storage unit, wherein the programinformation display unit determines the size of display frame of one ormore pieces of program information to be displayed, on the basis of oneor more pieces of time zone information possessed by one or more piecesof program information to be displayed, out of one or more pieces ofprogram information stored in the program information storage unit. 4.An information processing device for displaying an electronic programguide having one or more pieces of program information having a programidentifier as information for identifying a program and time zoneinformation as information showing an on-air time zone of the program,comprising: a program information storage unit storing one or morepieces of program information; a program information display unit fordisplaying one or more pieces of program information out of the programinformation stored in the program information storage unit; and an inputaccepting unit for accepting an input of instruction of programinformation to be focused out of one or more programs displayed by theprogram information display unit, wherein the program informationdisplay unit determines the size of display frame of one or more piecesof program information to be displayed, on the basis of the time zoneinformation possessed by the focused program information by the input ofthe input accepting unit.
 5. An information processing device fordisplaying an electronic program guide having one or more pieces ofprogram information having a program identifier as information foridentifying a program and time zone information as information showingan on-air time zone of the program, wherein the size of display frame ofprogram information is changed, on the basis of one or more pieces oftime zone information possessed by one or more pieces of programinformation being displayed or time zone information possessed by thefocused program information.
 6. The information processing device ofclaim 3, wherein the program information includes a moving picture. 7.An information processing device for displaying an electronic programguide having one or more pieces of program information including amoving program identifier, time zone information, and a moving picture,wherein the moving picture possessed by the program information isdisplayed by changing the display method of moving picture on the basisof the time zone information.
 8. The information processing device ofclaim 1, wherein the program information includes a program identifierand time zone information, and the program guide display unit displaysthe moving picture by changing the display method on the basis of thetime zone information.
 9. The information processing device of claim 7,wherein the display method of moving picture is moving picturereproduction, display of still picture contained in the moving picture,or frame feed reproduction of the moving picture.
 10. The informationprocessing device of claim 7, wherein the moving picture is displayed bychanging the reproduction speed on the basis of the time zoneinformation.
 11. The information processing device of claim 7, whereinonly part of object for composing the moving picture may be displayed onthe basis of the time zone information.
 12. The information processingdevice of claim 9, wherein the representative still picture as stillpicture representing the moving picture holds a representativeidentifier in pair as information for identifying the pertinentrepresentative still picture, and the still picture is displayed asdisplay of still picture identified by the representative identifier.13. A program causing a computer to execute, comprising: a step ofdisplaying a frame of program guide; a step of determining the displayposition and display area of moving picture for identifying the programinformation on the basis of the program information; and a step ofdisplaying the moving picture for identifying the program information inthe program guide on the basis of the determination.
 14. A programcausing a computer to execute, comprising: an input accepting step ofaccepting an input of display instruction of electronic program guide ormoving instruction of displayed electronic program list; a displayprogram information acquiring step of acquiring program information tobe displayed on the basis of the accepted input; a display frame sizedetermining step of determining the size of display frame of one or morepieces of program information to be displayed, on the basis of one ormore pieces of time zone information possessed in one or more pieces ofprogram information acquired at the display program acquiring step; anda step of displaying by composing an electronic program guide on thebasis of the display frame size determined at the display frame sizedetermining step.
 15. A program causing a computer to execute,comprising: an input accepting step of accepting an input of instructionof program information to be focused out of one or more displayedprograms; a step of acquiring time zone information possessed by theprogram information focused by the input; a step of determining the sizeof display frame of program information on the basis of the time zoneinformation; and a step of displaying by composing an electronic programguide on the basis of the determined display frame size.
 16. A programcausing a computer to execute, comprising: a display program informationacquiring step of acquiring one or more pieces of program information tobe displayed; a time zone information acquiring step of acquiring eachtime zone information possessed in one or more pieces of programinformation acquired at the display program information acquiring step;a display method determining step of determining the display method onthe basis of each time zone information acquired at the time zoneinformation acquiring step; a moving picture acquiring step of acquiringone or more moving pictures corresponding to one or more pieces ofprogram information; and a program guide display step of displaying oneor more moving pictures acquired at the moving picture acquiring step,on the basis of the display method determined at the display methoddetermining step, and displaying an electronic program guide includingthe moving pictures.
 17. The information processing device of claim 4,wherein the program information includes a moving picture.
 18. Theinformation processing device of claim 5, wherein the programinformation includes a moving picture.
 19. The information processingdevice of claim 8, wherein the display method of moving picture ismoving picture reproduction, display of still picture contained in themoving picture, or frame feed reproduction of the moving picture. 20.The information processing device of claim 8, wherein the moving pictureis displayed by changing the reproduction speed on the basis of the timezone information.
 21. The information processing device of claim 8,wherein only part of object for composing the moving picture may bedisplayed on the basis of the time zone information.
 22. The informationprocessing device of claim 19, wherein the representative still pictureas still picture representing the moving picture holds a representativeidentifier in pair as information for identifying the pertinentrepresentative still picture, and the still picture is displayed asdisplay of still picture identified by the representative identifier.23. The information processing device of claim 2, wherein the programinformation includes a program identifier and time zone information, andthe program guide display unit displays the moving picture by changingthe display method on the basis of the time zone information.
 24. Theinformation processing device of claim 6, wherein the programinformation includes a program identifier and time zone information, andthe program guide display unit displays the moving picture by changingthe display method on the basis of the time zone information.
 25. Theinformation processing device of claim 17, wherein the programinformation includes a program identifier and time zone information, andthe program guide display unit displays the moving picture by changingthe display method on the basis of the time zone information.
 26. Theinformation processing device of claim 18, wherein the programinformation includes a program identifier and time zone information, andthe program guide display unit displays the moving picture by changingthe display method on the basis of the time zone information.